


Weather the Storm

by ellacj



Series: 52 Weeks of Swan Queen [24]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, F/F, Teen Pregnancy, swanfire is only mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-05 21:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4195179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellacj/pseuds/ellacj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Together we can face any challenges as deep as the ocean and as high as the sky."</p><p>-Sonia Gandhi</p>
            </blockquote>





	Weather the Storm

It’s always the stormy nights that Regina finds herself waiting by the phone.

With Emma living on the streets, she feels she has every right to worry. They made an agreement a long time ago, right after Emma lost her phone just before a huge storm and they fell out of touch for a few days. Regina thought something terrible had happened.

So now, every time the sky clouds over and the rumblings begin, Regina sits in her bedroom with phone in hand, waiting for it to ring and for her best friend to say she’s okay. Because really, that’s all Regina wants. For Emma to be safe.

But Regina almost never calls Emma. Not after the time Emma’s phone went off while she was spending the night in a closed K-Mart and nearly got caught by the night guard. Since then, Regina always waits for Emma’s call.

The storm’s been raging for half an hour now, and still her phone has remained silent, despite her obsessively checking it. It’s times like these that her imagination begins to run wild. In her mind’s eye, Emma’s car is on the side of the road, Emma lying facedown in a ditch with no one to shake her awake.

Or she’s cold and shivering on the sidewalk in front of a hotel, the front desk woman refusing to let her inside for lack of a nicer pair of shoes.

Or she’s been struck by lightning and her burning flesh had to be snuffed out by the torrent of rain.

Regina shakes her head. She knows she’s being ridiculous, but something in her gut is telling her something’s wrong, and her gut has never lied to her. She’s just about to unlock her phone and call Emma herself when it vibrates in her hand, singing the merry tune that indicates Emma’s calling.

“Emma?” Regina answers after barely a second.

“Hey.” Something isn’t right in Emma’s voice. Regina can tell immediately that she’s upset.

Regina frowns. “Where are you?”

“I’m in a gas station bathroom.”

“Why? Are you okay?”

She lets out a short, bitter laugh. “Not really, no.” There’s a long pause on the line, and Regina can hear shuddering breaths on Emma’s end.

“Emma, what’s going on?”

“I, um, I’ve been having really bad stomachaches lately. And I feel super nauseous all the time.” She pauses again. “And my period is like a week late.”

Regina finds her hand clutching her bedspread with a grip so tight her nails dig into her palms even through the thick fabric. “For real?”

“I’ve been throwing up all day. So I went out after Neal left for work and got a pregnancy test. Took it about a half hour ago.”

“What does it say?”

“I don’t know. I’m too scared to look.”

Regina exhales slowly through her nose. “Do you want me to be there?”

“No, I can’t ask that. Your mom will kill you.”

“I don’t care. Where are you?”

Emma’s quiet for a minute. “The Shell station on Fifth.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Regina hangs up the phone, already on her feet and glancing around the room for her thick waterproof coat. Once she finds it she snatches her purse off of her desk and slips it over her shoulder under the coat before heading to the window.

Climbing down the side of the house proves to be both terrifying and insanely difficult in what feels like a hurricane. By the time her feet hit the ground her knees are quivering and her hair is plastered to her face with freezing rain. The grass and mud squelch beneath her feet as she runs to her car and starts it, praying that the sound of the engine doesn’t wake her parents.

The Shell station is only a few blocks from her house, and the parking lot is virtually empty when she pulls up. If not for the weakly flickering OPEN sign in the window she may have thought the station was abandoned.

Regina grabs a couple chocolate bars and buys them at the counter before heading to the back and knocking on the door of the single-stall bathroom.

“Occupied,” Emma’s voice calls weakly.

“It’s me.”

The door clicks open a moment later, and when Regina goes inside Emma is sitting on the toilet with the pregnancy test box in her hand, the end of the stick peeking out of the open end. “You still haven’t looked?” Regina asks quietly.

“Nope.”

“I got you this.” She holds out one of the chocolate bars, smiling gently as Emma takes it and unwraps it.

“Thanks.” Emma looks up with a trembling smile. “I’m starving.”

Regina hoists herself up to sit on the sink, feet dangling and nose wrinkling as the porcelain wets the bottom of her jeans. “Do you think you’re really pregnant?”

“Honestly? I have no idea.” Emma lets her head drop into her hands. “Neal thinks I’m at home. He doesn’t even know I’ve been sick.”

“Why haven’t you told him?”

“I don’t want him to freak out and dump me.”

Slowly, Regina slides down off of the sink, moving closer to Emma and resting her hand on her friend’s leg. “You’ve been thinking about breaking up with him, haven’t you?”

Emma sighs. “Yeah. But if I’m pregnant… I can’t have a baby alone.”

“You won’t be alone. You’ll have me.”

Emma looks up, meeting Regina’s eye with a tiny smile. “Thanks.”

Regina holds out her hand. “Let me.” When Emma hands her the box, Regina slowly slides the test stick out, letting herself be thankful that Emma had the part she didn’t pee on facing outward. Her breath catches in her throat when she sees the result in the tiny window.

Two tiny vertical lines.

It’s strange how two vertical lines can change everything. How one night of impulse and one moment in a gas station bathroom can send Emma’s life into such a spiral, and for one brief second Regina doesn’t want to tell her.

So she hesitates, allows Emma one more tiny second of possibility before everything comes crashing down. “It’s positive,” she murmurs, eyes flickering all around Emma’s face for even the slightest sign of anything.

“I guess I have to tell Neal then.” Emma doesn’t sound angry, or sad. She just sounds hollow.

Regina squeezes her knee. “You’ll be okay,” she whispers. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you or this baby. I promise.”

Emma smiles. “Thank you.” She stands up, legs shaking visibly. “I’m gonna go find Neal.”

“Good luck. Let me know what happens.”

“Thank you. For coming tonight.” Emma reaches out and takes Regina’s hand, lacing their fingers together as though they were meant to do so. “It means a lot.”

“I wouldn’t let you do this alone.”

Regina drives Emma back to where she and Neal are staying since Neal took her car to work, dropping her off with a tight hug and a gentle kiss on the cheek.

She plans on sleeping, she really does, but she finds herself tossing and turning in bed thinking about Emma and Neal and the baby. Her phone goes off at about two o’clock, not quite waking her up but pulling her out of a daze.

_I told Neal_

**_What happened?_ **

_We broke up_

Regina’s heart races. **_Are you okay?_**

_Yeah_

_I didn’t think I would be_

_But I am_

**_I’m glad._ **

_See you tomorrow?_

**_I’d love that._ **

**_Maybe we can shop for baby clothes ;)_ **

**_Too soon?_ **

_Maybe a little_

Regina sighs, prepared to shut her phone off for the night when it vibrates in her hand.

_I can’t wait to raise this baby with you_

**_Me too._ **

_I’m gonna go to bed_

_Good night_

**_Good night._ **

The storm has finally let up in the night, and Regina smiles to herself as she lies back down. Really, at the end of this crazy night, almost nothing has changed except that Emma now knows about the tiny little thing growing in her abdomen. After everything they’ve both endured in their lives, they don’t have much left, but they do have each other.

She just hopes it’s enough.

Regina’s not sure about herself, but she knows that Emma will always be enough for her. She smiles, rolls over, and listens to nothing but the sound of silence outside her bedroom window.


End file.
